Wrath of the Gods Page #17

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you mind? I’ll tell you a secret in return.

You click the hand cursor on Theseus, which animates you

yanking on him—to no effect.

THESEUS:

That’s what I was afraid of. Darn, it was a good

secret too.

When you fetch Heracles from Elysian Fields 1 (page 74) and

return with him, he pulls Theseus from the throne.

THESEUS:

Alright!

(to Heracles)

Thanks, cuz.

HERACLES:

No problem.

Theseus turns to you. If you talk to him:

THESEUS:

The secret is, if you want to get by Cerberus, the

Hound of Hell, you’d better be charming.

Or:

THESEUS:

Aw, nice doggie wouldn’t let you by? I guess he

didn’t find you charming enough.

Cerberus

HADES CATACOMB. To make amends for a crime that he

had committed, Heracles (HUR-a-kleez; Roman name: Hercules)

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was compelled to perform a series of heroic tasks, or Labors.

Bringing Hades’ dog Cerberus (SUR-buh-rus) up from the

infernal regions was one of the most difficult of these. The

first problem was Charon (CARE-on) the Boatman, whose

job it was to ferry dead souls across the river Styx (STIKS).

Heracles had gotten to the banks of the Styx easily enough,

via one of the several natural caverns which led from the

regions of sunlight down to the gloomy depths of Hades.

But then having arrived at the river, he was confronted by

a glowering Charon. The boatman wouldn’t ferry anyone

across unless they met two conditions. Firstly, they had

to pay a fare or bribe. And secondly, they had to be dead.

Heracles met neither condition, a circumstance which

aggravated Charon’s natural grouchiness and caused him to

glower more fiercely than usual.

But Heracles simply glowered in return, and such is the

perseverance of a proper hero that once having set about

a task, said hero will not fail to achieve and excel. The task

in this instance being glowering, Heracles accomplished it

with such gusto that Charon let out a whimper and meekly

conveyed the hero across the Styx.

The next and greater challenge was Cerberus himself. The

dog had teeth of a razor’s sharpness, three (or maybe fifty)

heads, a venomous snake for a tail, and for good measure

another swarm of snakes growing out of his back. When

Heracles closed in and began to grapple with the hound,

these snakes lashed at him from the rear, while Cerberus’s

multiple canines lunged for a purchase on the hero’s throat.

Fortunately, Heracles was wearing his trusty lion’s skin

cloak, which had the magic property of being impenetrable

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by anything short of one of Zeus’s thunderbolts. After a

titanic struggle, Heracles got Cerberus by the throat and

choked the dog into submission.

Cerberus growls at you ferociously. You’ll need Orpheus’s

lyre (page 79) to charm him into letting you past.

HADES CATACOMB. As is not surprising, the ancient Greeks

did not know what to expect after death. Some thought the

greatest heroes lucked out by traveling to the Elysian (i-LIHzhun)

Fields, where they could hunt and feast and socialize

in pleasant company for eternity, while commoners were

consigned to a lifeless and boring abode in the fields of

asphodel (ASS-fuh-del). First they’d drink the waters of Lethe

(LEE-thee), which caused them to lose all memory of their

former lives and thus lack anything to talk about. In its earlier

depictions, the Underworld kingdom of Hades was such

a dank and moldering place that were it laid open to the

heavens, the gods themselves would turn away in disgust.

Certainly the god Hades was a dread figure to the living,

who were quite careful how they swore oaths in his name.

To many people, simply to utter the word “Hades” was a

frightening proposition. So they made up a euphemism, a

word that meant the same thing but with a more pleasant

sound. Since all precious minerals came from the earth (the

dwelling place of Hades) and since the god was wealthy

indeed when it came to the number of subjects in his kingdom

of the dead, he was referred to as ploutos, “wealth.” This

Hades’ Treasury

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accounts for the name given him by the Romans, who called

Hades Pluto, Zeus Jupiter, Ares Mars, and Hermes Mercury.

In this catacomb there is an indented panel in the wall,

over which is inscribed “Treasury of Hades.” There’s a red

button next to it. Push the button and the panel rises to

reveal something that looks vaguely like an automated teller

machine, with an illuminated screen that says “Welcome,

Mr. Hades. Please enter your Roman name.” Below this are

four illuminated buttons: “Mars,” “Mercury,” “Pluto,” and

“Jupiter.” Press “Pluto” and a little door opens and dispenses

gems. Press any other name and the panel lowers. (You’ll

have to exit the scene, come back in, and guess again.)

Rock Slab 1

YET ANOTHER CAVE-LIKE CATACOMB. Imagine a

country so rich in local legends of a hoary antiquity that

they go back thousands of years, as far as the time of gods

and heroes. Such is modern Greece. In the region of Achaia

(a-KEE-a) is the cave of Kastria Kalavryta (KASS-tree-uh kuh-

LAHV-ree-tuh), known as “The Cave of the Lakes,” where the

story told locally blends with the mythology of the ancients.

When the daughters of the king of Tiryns (TIR-inz) boasted

that their beauty surpassed that of the goddess Hera (HEEruh),

they were driven mad. Thinking they were cows, they

roamed the countryside in a frenzy. The king called on the

seer Melampus (meh-LAM-pus) to cure them of their mania.

(This was the same Melampus who had been given the

power to understand the language of insects and animals

when he awoke one night to find snakes licking at his ears.)

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Melampus found the daughters of the king in the Cave of

the Lakes, and it was here that he cured them. It was only

in 1964 that the people of Kastria discovered the inner

recess of the cave, which is unique for its cascading pools.

It must have been with pounding hearts that they extended

their wooden ladders to the second floor. For they sensed a

lingering aura of that far-off time when the presence of the

gods was real.

In the middle of the screen is a hot spot where a large slab of

rock leans against the wall. Click on it and you exert heroic

strength to slide it out of the way. You reveal a hole through

which you can exit into Hades Crossroads (page 73) and then

leave the Underworld via Hades Portal 3 (page 72).

Firewood

BUILDINGS WITH LOG PILE AND HORSE. At one time

Greece was far more densely wooded than it is today. But

whole forests were cut down over the years for ship’s timber

and firewood.

You come upon the Peddler from the Shrine (page 13) and

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